The present invention relates to housings designed to contain a propellant charge and designed to be loaded into the barrel of a recoilless weapon.
Such housings, more commonly called cartridges, ensure maintenance and initial confinement of the propellant charge. In general, they have two sabots, adjusted to the inside diameter of the barrel and connected by a rod that breaks at a very specific pressure value. The sabots are pushed in opposite directions, one carrying a projectile and the other carrying a counterweight. French Patent No. 2576682 describes such a type of housing.
In configurations of this type, gas leakages frequently occur between the sabot and the barrel. Supplementary seals are required, therefore, rendering the housing more complex and expensive and making it more difficult to mount.
WO 92/06344 describes a propellant charge housing composed of two essentially identical half-housings, assembled by a link that is fragmentable by gas pressure. Such a housing, however, also has drawbacks. First, reproducing the mechanical strength of the breaking means, that is, the link, is difficult (e.g. when attaching the half-housings by gluing). Second, assembling the housing is complex in implementation.